WIBW NEWS: Poll: Kansas voters sour on 2012 tax cuts

Nick VivianiMarch 31, 2017

Five years after Gov. Sam Brownback and the state legislature slashed taxes throughout the state, a new poll shows those drastic cuts aren’t sitting well with Kansas voters.

According to a new poll from the Kansas Center for Economic Growth, two-thirds of registered voters say they oppose the 2012 cuts, with more than half of them saying they “strongly opposed” them. Only one in five voters backed the tax overhaul.

Survey results indicate the reforms were widely seen as helping the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. Sixty percent of voters think the changes helped the rich, while even more (70%) think they harmed the middle class.

Just under a quarter of Kansas voters (24%) told pollsters they approved of the job Gov. Brownback is doing. More than twice as many said they “strongly disapproved.” In all, 67% overall said they disapproved of his performance.

Education continued to weigh heavily on voters’ minds, the survey found. More than four-in-five voters (83%) said they were concerned or very concerned with the state’s level of spending on education.

A majority of Kansans said they would like to see lawmakers close the loopholes that exempt some businesses in Kansas from paying income taxes (55%) and adding a new top income tax rate for the state’s top earners (56%).

The phone poll was conducted by Target Smart for the Kansas Center for Economic Growth. It surveyed 600 people and had a margin of error of +/- 4 points.